It is known to treat fabrics, particularly after washing, with fabric softening agents in order to improve the feel of the fabrics and, in the case of clothes, to improve the comfort in wear. Traditionally, fabric softening agents are applied from an aqueous liquor which is made up by adding a relatively small volume of a fabric softening composition to a large volume of water, for example during the rinse cycle in an automatic washing machine. The fabric softening composition is usually an aqueous liquid product containing less than about 8% of a cationic fabric softening agent. For a number of reasons, including for example the cost of packaging, it would be preferred if the product were to contain more than 8% of the active ingredient. However, due to the difficulty of making low-viscosity liquid products containing more than 8% of the active ingredient and due to difficulties in the storage and ease of use of such concentrated products, it has only been possible to do this in the past with the use of expensive ingredients and/or with the use of ingredients which have some undesirable effect on the properties of the product.
Further, there may be a desire to partially replace the cationic fabric softening agent with a material which is less costly, easier to handle or less prone to causing skin reaction while at the same time maintaining or substantially maintaining the performance of the product.
As set out in more detail below, the present invention seeks to overcome one or more of the objectives referred to above by the combined use of a cationic fabric softening agent and lanolin or a lanolin-like material.